Method of searching for, collecting and distributing information in distributed computer

ABSTRACT

Information control techniques capable of storing information from information providers distributedly and arbitrarily collecting information related to a desired subject. An information processor being in cooperation with other information processors connected with a network, comprising an operating unit for preparing information related to a desired subject, recording units for recording the information, a communication unit for communicating with other information processors connected with a network, and a control unit, the control unit, on receiving a subject-specified inquiry from other first information processor, retrieves information matching the inquiry in the recording units and sends back the matched information to a specified receiving party.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application is a continuation of International PatentApplication No. PCT/JP00/06888 filed Oct. 3, 2000, currently pending,which designated inter alia the United States.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to a technology of managinginformation in distribution.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Over the recent years, with advancements of the Internet,consumers have come to collect pieces of information on commercialarticles, purchase the commercial articles or sell the commercialarticle possessed on hand.

[0004] An information exchange on a network such as the Internet, etc.,has hitherto involved the use of a chat site and a bulletin boardsystem. This type of site is provided with and retains pieces ofinformation such as article evaluations, opinions, comments, etc.,created online or offline by users.

[0005] The user provides those categories of information on one hand andis provided with information from other user on the other hand. Thus,the consumers having an interest in a certain specified theme, e.g., anevaluation about a certain commercial article, have been exchanging theinformation with each other.

[0006] In this type of system, however, even when the user trying toexchange the information makes a query, the user must wait till ananswer is given from another user. On the other hand, even when theother user gives the answer at last, there might be a case where a queryoriginator user gives up receiving an answer at that point in time.Thus, the conventional system required synchronization to some extentbetween the query originator user and the respondent user.

[0007] Further, in the chat site and the bulletin board site describedabove, the information provided from the information provider istransferred as-is to the information recipient. Hence, there was a casewhere the information provided is not necessarily matched with theinformation required.

[0008] That is, if characteristics of the information provider in termsof a factor contributing to a selection of the commercial article arenot similar to characteristics of the information recipient, theinformation recipient could not obtain the information suited to thisrecipient. For example, when obtaining information on a degree ofsatisfaction with an automobile, there might a case where the result ofthe same type car differs depending on whether the answerer is single orhas a family.

[0009] Further, for instance, there is a correlation between ahouse-owner-oriented consumer having a high interest in pets and ahouse-renter-oriented consumer having a low interest in the pets. Thus,even if collecting the information without considering the factorcontributing to the selection of the commercial article, there was acase in which the information collected does not invariably becomeeffective information.

[0010] Moreover, for transmitting the information described above, as inviral communications, there was a case of utilizing such an informationtransmission system that an information originator is paid a feecorresponding to the number of persons to which, e.g., an E-mail isdistributed.

[0011] This type of system, however, had a case where the E-mail isforcibly distributed, which might encroach upon a privacy of the user.Moreover, participants in this system must artificially distribute theE-mails, and hence the system spontaneously disappears. There was rarelya long duration of the system.

[0012] Further, there have hitherto been conducted sales of thecommercial articles as by net auctions, etc., by furthering theinformation exchange described above. In the sales on the network also,when the seller indicates an intention of providing a commercialarticle, a purchaser is required to indicate an intention of consentwithin a predetermined period of time. Reversely, when the purchaserindicates an intention of purchasing the commercial article, the selleris required to indicate an intention of consent within a predeterminedperiod of time.

[0013] According to the commercial article sales system conducted so faron the Internet, an optimal purchaser does not necessarily answer withinthe sales period indicated by the seller in, e.g., the net auction, etc.Herein, the optimal purchaser is a person who purchases the commercialarticle concerned at a maximum price.

[0014] Accordingly, it might happen that the user who requires thiscommercial article most and should purchase it at the maximum pricefails to access by accident the sales site of this commercial article.

[0015] Similarly, when the wish-to-purchase person of the commercialarticle indicates the intention of purchasing the commercial article,the seller is required to indicate the intention of consent within thepredetermined period. Herein also, an optimal seller does notnecessarily answer within a purchase period shown by thewish-to-purchase person. Herein, the optimal seller is a person whosells the commercial article concerned at a minimum price.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0016] It is an object of the present invention, which was devised inview of the problems inherent in the prior art described above, toprovide an information management technology capable of accumulatinginformation in distribution which is given from an information provider,and collecting pieces of information on a desired theme at any time.

[0017] To accomplish the above object, the present invention adopts thefollowing means.

[0018] A readable-by-computer recording medium is recorded with aprogram for making a computer execute a step (S22) of receiving a querywith a designated theme, from a other first computer connected to anetwork, a step (S233) of searching for information coincident with thequery, and a send-back step (S235) of sending the information coincidentwith the query back to a predetermined response destination, whereby thecomputer manages the information in distribution.

[0019] Preferably, the query may contain transfer control information(TTL) for controlling transferability of the query, and this program maymake the computer further execute a step (S236) of updating the transfercontrol information under a predetermined condition, a step (S237) ofjudging based on the transfer control information whether the transferof query can be permitted or not, and a step (S238) of transferring,when the transfer is permitted, the query to one or more secondcomputers.

[0020] Preferably, this program may make the computer further execute astep (S7) of inputting information on a desired theme or a step ofdefining an accumulation area for inputting the information on thedesired theme.

[0021] Preferably, the send-back step may involve sending, as asubstitute for the information coincident with the query, a location ofthe information coincident with the query.

[0022] Preferably, this program may make the computer further execute astep (S24) of receiving the response to the query from the secondcomputer, and a step (S25) of sending the received response back to thepredetermined response destination.

[0023] Preferably, the response destination may be the first computer.

[0024] Preferably, the query may contain information for specifying theresponse destination, and the response destination may be a queryoriginator computer (11) originating the query first.

[0025] Preferably, the response destination may be an administrationcomputer (10) requested to distribute the query to the other computer bythe query originator computer originating the query first, and startingsuch a distribution.

[0026] Preferably, the theme may be a user's evaluation about acommercial article.

[0027] Preferably, the query may contain characteristic information of aquery originator user related to a purchase of the commercial article,the program may make the computer further execute a step of referring tothe characteristics of a respondent user, and a step (S23 a) of judgingwhether the respondent user is coincident with the characteristicinformation or not, and the send-back step involves not sending anevaluation of the respondent user who is not coincident with thecharacteristic information.

[0028] Preferably, the program may make the computer further execute astep (S7, S69) of generating the query, and a receiving step (S10, S6 b)of receiving a response to the query.

[0029] Preferably, the program may make the computer further execute astep (S7, S69)of requesting the administration computer (10) to startdistributing the thus generated query.

[0030] Preferably, the receiving step may involve receiving the responsefrom the administration computer (10).

[0031] Preferably, the receiving step may involve receiving the responsefrom a computer having information coincident with the query.

[0032] Preferably, this program may make the computer further execute astep (S6 b) of totaling the responses.

[0033] Preferably, the information may be a result of the user'sevaluation about the commercial article, and the program may make thecomputer further execute a step (S4541) of referring to thecharacteristic information of the query originator user related to thepurchase of the commercial article, a step (S4541) of judging whether ornot the respondent user is coincident with the above characteristicinformation, and a step (S6 b) of totaling the responses of therespondent users coincident with the above characteristic information.

[0034] Preferably, the query may be an offer of selling a specifiedcommercial article, and the information may be a price in the case ofpurchasing the commercial article concerned.

[0035] Preferably, this program may make the computer further execute astep (S70) of generating the query, a step (S70)of receiving a responseto the query, and a step (S72) of selecting only a predetermined numberof responses in sequence from the highest price down to the lowest.

[0036] Preferably, the query may be an offer of purchasing a specifiedcommercial article, and the information may be a price in the case ofselling the commercial article concerned.

[0037] Preferably, the program may make the computer further execute astep (S80) of generating the query, a step (S80) of receiving a responseto the query, and a step (S82) of selecting only a predetermined numberof responses in sequence from the lowest price to the highest.

[0038] Further, a readable-by-computer recording medium is recorded witha program for making a computer distribute a query to other computer ona network and execute a step (S42) of receiving a query distributionrequest for distributing the query to other distribution destinationcomputer from a query originator computer generating the query, a step(S435) of determining the distribution destination computer, and adistribution step (S436) of distributing the query to the determineddistribution destination computer.

[0039] Preferably, if the distribution destination computer transfersthe query to still other transfer destination computer, the distributionstep (S436) may involve distributing transfer control information forcontrolling transferability of the query together with the query andeliminating a limitless transfer of the query.

[0040] Preferably, the distribution step (S435 a) may involvedistributing the query to a plurality of distribution destinations onthe basis of a multicast address.

[0041] Preferably, the program may make the computer further execute astep (S44) of receiving a response to the query, and a step (S4545) ofsending the response back to the query originator computer.

[0042] Preferably, the program may make the computer further execute astep (S44) of receiving the responses to the query, a totaling step(S4541) of totaling the responses and generating total information, anda step (S4545) of sending the total information back to the queryoriginator computer.

[0043] Preferably, the program may make the computer further execute astep (S44) of receiving a response to the query, a step of generating ananonymous response by deleting the information for specifying anindividual from the response, and a step of sending the anonymousresponse back to the query originator computer.

[0044] Preferably, the information may be a result of the user'sevaluation about the commercial article, and the program may make thecomputer further execute a step (S4541) of referring to characteristicinformation of the user of the query originator computer with respect tothe purchase of the commercial article, a step (S4541) of judgingwhether or not the respondent user is coincident with the above usercharacteristic information and a totaling step (S4541) of totalingresponses of the respondent users coincident with the abovecharacteristic information.

[0045] Preferably, the distribution step may involve designating thequery originator computer as a response destination for the distributiondestination computer, and having the response directly given to thequery originator computer from the distribution destination computer orthe transfer destination computer.

[0046] Preferably, the query may be an offer of selling a specifiedcommercial article, the information may be a price in the case ofpurchasing the commercial article, and the totaling step (S4541) mayinclude a step (S72) of selecting only a predetermined number ofresponses in sequence from the highest price down to the lowest.

[0047] Preferably, the query may be an offer of purchasing a specifiedcommercial article, the information may be a price in the case ofselling the commercial article, and the totaling step (S4541) mayinclude a step (S82) of selecting only a predetermined number ofresponses in sequence from the lowest price to the highest.

[0048] Further, according to the present invention, there is provided adata communication signal containing a program code module foractualizing any one of the functions described above.

[0049] Furthermore, according to the present invention, an informationprocessing device (11 a, etc.) cooperating with other informationprocessing device (11 b, etc.) connected to a network, comprises anoperation unit (16) for creating information related to a desired theme,a recording unit (13, 14) for recording the above information, acommunication unit (17) for communicating with the other informationprocessing device connected to the network, and a control unit (12),wherein the control unit (12), when receiving the query with the themedesignated from the other first information processing device (11)(S22),searches for the information coincident with the query on the recordingunit (S233), and sends the information coincident with the query back toa predetermined response destination (S235).

[0050] Moreover, according to the present invention, there is providedan information management processing system, configured by a pluralityof information processing devices (11, 11 a, 11 b) on a network, formanaging information in distribution, the information processing device(11, 11 a, 11 b) comprising a communication unit (17) for communicatingwith other information processing device connected to a network, and acontrol unit (12), wherein the control unit (12) receives a query with atheme designated from other first computer (11 a) connected to thenetwork, searches for information coincident with the query, and sendsthe information coincident with the query back to a predeterminedresponse destination.

[0051] Further, according to the present invention, an informationcollecting method of distributing information to a computer on anetwork, for storing information in distribution, and making thecomputer respond to the query, comprises a step (S42) of receiving arequest for distribution from a query originator computer generating thequery related to a desired theme, a step (S435) of determining a querydistribution destination computer, and a step (S436) of distributing thequery to said distribution destination computer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0052]FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system architecture of aninformation management system;

[0053]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of processing of a viralsearch site 10 shown in FIG. 1;

[0054]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of processing of a host ofa participant member (which will hereinafter be simply called aparticipant host) 11 a in “shoppers.com” shown in FIG. 1;

[0055]FIG. 4 shows a list of commercial articles displayed on a Web pageby the viral search site 10 shown in FIG. 1;

[0056]FIG. 5 is a format of a questionnaire file downloaded from the Webpage by the participant member in the viral search site 10;

[0057]FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing clusters for categorizingcustomers on the basis of consumption characteristics of the customersfor every commercial article;

[0058]FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a query data structure used by theparticipant host 11 a, etc., shown in FIG. 1;

[0059]FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a data structure of an answer to thequery;

[0060]FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a hardware architecture of a requesterhost 11 shown in FIG. 1;

[0061]FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing member registration steps by theparticipant member in the viral search site 10 and a commercial articleevaluation writing procedure;

[0062]FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing operation steps when searching forother party information from the requester host 11 shown in FIG. 1;

[0063]FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing processing steps of an informationprocessing program executed by the requester host 11 and the participanthost 11 a, etc.;

[0064]FIG. 13 shows details of a response process (S23 in FIG. 12) tothe query;

[0065]FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing processes of a site managementprogram of the viral search site 10;

[0066]FIG. 15 shows details of a distribution process (S43 in FIG. 14)of the query;

[0067]FIG. 16 shows details of an answer collecting process (S45 in FIG.14);

[0068]FIG. 17 shows details of a totaling/sending-back process (S454 inFIG. 16);

[0069]FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a system architecture of aninformation management system in a first modified example of a firstembodiment;

[0070]FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a system architecture of aninformation management system in a second modified example of the firstembodiment;

[0071]FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing processes of the site managementprogram in the system in FIG. 19;

[0072]FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a system architecture of theinformation management system in a third modified example of the firstembodiment;

[0073]FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a data structure of a site querycommand in a fourth modified of the first embodiment;

[0074]FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing a response process in the fourthmodified example of the first embodiment;

[0075]FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a control flow for establishingconnections in the information management system in a second embodiment;

[0076]FIG. 25 shows steps of obtaining an answer in the informationmanagement system in the second embodiment;

[0077]FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing processes of the requester host inthe second embodiment;

[0078]FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing an answer totaling process whenselling a commercial article in a third embodiment;

[0079]FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing an answer totaling process whenpurchasing the commercial article in the third embodiment;

[0080]FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing a multicasting-based querydistribution process in a fourth embodiment; and

[0081]FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing the distribution process in amodified example of the fourth embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0082] The present inventions now will be described more fullyhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some,but not all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, theseinventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not beconstrued as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicablelegal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

[0083] <<First Embodiment>>

[0084] An information management system in a first embodiment of thepresent invention will be explained with reference to the drawings inFIGS. 1 through 23.

[0085] <System Architecture and Outline of Functions>

[0086]FIG. 1 shows a system architecture of an information managementsystem. This system is configured by a virtual word-of-mouth (viralcommunication) search site “shopper.com” (which hereinafter will becalled a viral search site 10) on the Internet, and host computers(which hereinafter will be referred to as participant hosts 11 a, etc.)used by participant members A, B, C, D, E, etc., in the viral searchsite 10.

[0087] Among the participant hosts 11 a, etc., particularly theparticipant host making a request for searching is termed a requesterhost 11. Further, a party that requests the viral search site 10 tosearch is called a requester P. Moreover, according to this embodiment,the search request is also termed a query. An outline of processes inthis system will hereinafter be described.

[0088] [Outline of Operation Process on Requester Host 11]

[0089] (1) The requester P, to start with, accesses the viral searchsite 10 from the requester host 11, and downloads an informationprocessing program. This information processing program provides acommunication function with other participant hosts 11 a, etc., and adata management function.

[0090] (2) Further, the requester P enters an acknowledgement aboutagreed items for becoming a member of the viral search site 10 andregisters in the viral search site 10. Herein, the agreed items are, forinstance, such items that the members shall neither make any falseanswers nor sell other members' information, and so forth.

[0091] (3) Moreover, the requester P inputs requester's owncharacteristics for consumption and saves them on the requester host 11.Herein, the characteristics for consumption are pieces of informationfor categorizing the requester P in terms of purchasing behaviors, andare, e.g., a distinction of sex, age, family members, address, job,income, etc.

[0092] (4) Still further, the requester P invokes a commercial articlelist retained by the viral search site 10 and inputs an evaluation abouta self-purchased commercial article. This evaluation is saved as aquestionnaire file on a local disk of the requester host 11. If there isno commercial article that can be evaluated by the requester P, however,this setting is omitted.

[0093] After the initial setting described above, the requester P isable to query other members. This query is, for example, “What is adegree of satisfaction of the purchaser about a commercial article X ?”.For this query, the requester P selects the commercial article X fromthe commercial article list retained by the viral search site 10,designates a degree of satisfaction as a search item and may thus make arequest for searching.

[0094] According to this embodiment, the query sent from the requesterhost 11 to the viral search site 10 is called a requester query.Further, a query distributed from the viral search site 10 to otherparticipant hosts 11 a is referred to as a site query.

[0095] [Outline of Processes on Viral Search Site 10 and ParticipantHosts 11 a]

[0096] The viral search site 10 executes the following processes aboutthe query given from the requester host 11. At first, the viral searchsite 10 predicts an occurrence rate of the purchasers of the commercialarticle X and sets a TTL (Time-to-Live). The TTL is defined as aparameter for controlling forwarding the query from the participant host11 a in the viral search site 10 to other participant hosts 11 b. Eachtime the query is forwarded, the TTL is decremented. When the TTL comesto 0, this query is not forwarded.

[0097] Note that “forwarding” is a transfer of the search request fromthe participant host 11 a to other participant host 11 b. Accordingly,for instance, when the TTL is set to 25, the query is forwarded twentyfive times between the participant hosts 11 a and so on.

[0098] Next, the viral search site 10 distributes the query to one ormore participant hosts 11 a, etc., which have previously establishedpeer-to-peer connections to each other.

[0099] In response to this query, the participant host 11 a, etc., atfirst refers to within the self local disk and searches for an answer tothe query, for example, the information describing the degree ofsatisfaction of the purchaser about the commercial article X. If thisanswer exists within the local disk, the participant host 11 a, etc.,sends this answer together with the member's consumption characteristics(which will hereinafter simply be termed “the answer, etc.”) recorded onthe participant host 11 a, etc., back to the viral search site 10. Theseanswers, etc., are recorded as a file on the local disk and thereforedescribed as the file in FIG. 1.

[0100] Further, the participant host 11 a, etc., decrements the TTL by 1and, if the TTL is larger than 0, forwards the query to the one or moreparticipant hosts 11 b, etc., which have previously established thepeer-to-peer-connections to each other.

[0101] If the answer to this query exists on the local disk of theparticipant host 11 b, etc., the participant host 11 b, etc., sends theanswer, etc., back to the forwarding source. As shown in FIG. 1, thequery is forwarded sequentially from the participant host 11 a, etc., toother participant host 11 b, etc., till the TTL comes to 0. Further, theanswer, etc., is sent back via a path reversed to the forwarding.

[0102] Thus, in the case of finding out the answer to the queryforwarded, the answer and the member's consumption characteristicsrelated to this answer are collected by the viral search site 10. Then,the viral search site 10 compares the consumption characteristicscontained in the collected answer, etc., with the consumptioncharacteristics of the requester P. Then, the answer effective increating recommendation information for the requester P is filtered inthe way which follows.

[0103] The viral search site 10 previously determines by a statisticalanalysis a factor exhibiting a high degree of influence on purchasingthe commercial article for each of the commercial articles in thecommercial article list. Such a factor is obtained by statisticallyanalyzing, for instance, a result of questionnaire to the customers.

[0104] The questionnaire is concerned about, for example, the customer'sconsumption characteristics such as the distinction of sex, age, familymembers, address, job, income, a brand image held about each brand,etc., an actual purchase pattern of the customer, and so on.

[0105] The viral search site 10 executes the statistical analyses suchas a main component analysis, a regression analysis and a clusteranalysis etc., with respect to the result of the questionnaire describedabove, thereby determining the factor exhibiting the high degree ofinfluence with respect to the purchase pattern of each of the commercialarticles.

[0106] The viral search site 10 collects the answers of the membershaving their consumption characteristics, similar to the consumptioncharacteristics of the requester P, in the factor exhibiting the highdegree of influence on purchasing the commercial article X. The answercollection is conducted till a statistically significant sample count (apredetermined value) is reached.

[0107] The viral search site 10 estimates a degree of satisfaction ofthe purchaser of the commercial article X from the thus collectedanswers, then creates the recommendation information (a recommendationsheet) and sends this recommendation sheet to the requester P.

[0108] <Processes of Viral Search Site 10>

[0109]FIG. 2 shows a diagram of an outline of processes of the viralsearch site 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the viral search site 10 executesthe following functions.

[0110] (1) Creation of Cluster of Consumers

[0111] The viral search site 10 previously creates, based on a researchfor the commercial articles and consumer information, a cluster forcategorizing the consumers. The viral search site 10 categorizes theconsumption characteristics of the consumers for every commercialarticle, and assigns a cluster thereto.

[0112] A commercial article category based category table 20 retains aset of clusters of each commercial article as answer patterns. Forinstance, the consumers belonging to an answer pattern 1 are recordedsuch as an automobile cluster 1, a commodities cluster 2 and a foodcluster 12.

[0113] (2) Setting of TTL

[0114] The viral search site 10 has a consumer-based commercial articlepossession rate according to the commercial article category from theresearch conducted beforehand. Then, the viral search site 10 recordsinformation of how many times the query forwarding is repeated in anoccurrence rate table 21 for every commercial article category, based onthe commercial article possession rate.

[0115] (3) Site Query

[0116] The viral search site 10, upon receiving a requester querycommand from the requester host 11, sets the TTL based on the occurrencerate table, and issues a site query command to the ambient participanthosts 11 a, etc.

[0117] (4) Filtering

[0118] Next, the viral search site 10 receives an answer to the sitequery from the participant host 11 a, etc. This answer is a result ofsearching for the information coincident with the query by theparticipant host 11 a, etc., and is therefore called a hit.

[0119] Next, the viral search site 10 selects an answer of theparticipant A, etc., of which the cluster is coincident with the clusterof the requester P with respect to the query target commercial article.This selection process is called “filtering”.

[0120] (5) Collection of Evaluations

[0121] The viral search site 10 collects the evaluations about thecommercial article from the answer filtered in the process (4).

[0122] (6) Send-back of Recommendation Information

[0123] The viral search site 10 sends the recommendation informationback to the requester host 11 that has issued the requester query on thebasis of the process (5).

[0124] <Process of Participant Host 11 a, etc.>

[0125]FIG. 3 shows an outline of a process of the participant host 11 a,etc.

[0126] (1) Each of the participant hosts 11 a, etc., has basiccharacteristic data (which are called demographic data), e.g., adistinction of sex, an age (or a date of participant's birth), a job anda participant's residence place (e.g., a post code) of the participantA, etc.

[0127] Further, each of the participant hosts 11 a, etc., has detailedcharacteristic data, e.g., tastes, opinions, favorite brands, etc., ofthe participant A and so on. The detailed characteristic data are,however, inputted only when the participant concerned consents toinputting.

[0128] (2) Each of the participant hosts 11 a, etc., provides a functionof inputting the commercial article purchased by the user and theevaluation about this commercial article. Each of the participant hosts11 a, etc., records a result of this input in a commercial articlepurchase result record 23. The commercial article purchase result record23 consists of records each containing a name of commercial article, apurchase time, a purchase place, a purchase price, a purchase frequency,an evaluation, a degree of satisfaction, an intention of next purchaseand an impression.

[0129] (3) Each of the participant hosts 11 a, etc., has a commercialarticle category table 22 and a user cluster definition table 24. Thecommercial article category table 22 consists of records each containinga commercial article category, a maker, a major classification, anintermediate classification, a minor classification, a name ofcommercial article and a pointer to image data of a photo.

[0130] As shown in FIG. 3, the commercial article category table 22 islinked via the name of commercial article to the commercial articlepurchase result record 23.

[0131] The user cluster definition table 24 consists of a commercialarticle category and a set of clusters to which the user in thiscommercial article category belongs. The viral search site 10 createsthe user cluster definition table 24 on the basis of the basiccharacteristic data or the detailed characteristic data inputted by therequester P. Then, the requester P downloads and stores the requester'sown user cluster definition table 24 on the requester host 11.

[0132] (4) Each of the participant hosts 11 a, etc., provides the userwith a function of previously inputting to the questionnaire.

[0133] (5) Each of the participant hosts 11 a, etc., generates an answerpattern on the basis of the data of the questionnaire. Then, each of theparticipant hosts 11 a, etc., determines the user cluster according tothe commercial article category and stores the user cluster in the usercluster definition table 24.

[0134] (6) The requester host 11 sends the requester query commandcontaining the following information to the viral search site 10 inorder to search for the commercial article evaluations held by otherparticipant hosts 11 a, etc., and the cluster of the participantconcerned.

[0135] A: Registration Number of Requester;

[0136] B: Commercial article that the requester wishes to purchase; and

[0137] C: Cluster to which the requester belongs with respect to thecommercial article concerned.

[0138] The viral search site 10, upon receiving the requester querycommand, generates the site query command and distributes this commandto the participant hosts 11 a, etc.

[0139] (7) The participant hosts 11 a, etc., searches through thecommercial article purchase result record 23 and the user clusterdefinition table 24 in response to the site query command, and sends ananswer containing the following information back to the viral searchsite 10.

[0140] A: Evaluation about the query commercial article; and

[0141] B: Cluster of the participant who evaluates that commercialarticle.

[0142] (8) The participant hosts 11 a, etc., forwards the site querycommand to other participant hosts 11 b, etc. The other participanthosts 11 b, etc., similarly send answers back to the sending source ofthe site query command. Further, the other participant hosts 11 b, etc.,forward the site query command to still other participant hosts 11 c,etc.

[0143] <Commercial Article List>

[0144]FIG. 4 shows a structure of the commercial article list providedfrom the viral search site 10. Each line in this commercial article listconsists of a commercial article category, a maker, a majorclassification, an intermediate classification, a minor classification,a name of commercial article and a photo.

[0145] The commercial article category is a classification of commercialarticles such as a automobile, cosmetics, beer, etc. The maker is amaker of the commercial article. The major, intermediate and minorclassifications are ranges of the classification of the commercialarticle in the commercial article category.

[0146] For instance, the major classification shows a privately-ownedcar, a car for business use, etc. Further, the intermediateclassification shows a popular car, a high-grade car, etc. Moreover, theminor classification shows, for example. a wagon, a sedan, a van, etc.

[0147] The name of commercial article is a name of the commercialarticle concerned. Further, the photo is an image formed by capturingthe commercial article concerned. The requester P designates a desiredcommercial article from the thus structured commercial article list andmakes a request for retrieving a desired item, for instance, a degree ofsatisfaction of the user. It is to be noted that the information item tobe searched for is designated by selecting from an unillustrated searchitem list.

[0148] <Questionnaire File>

[0149]FIG. 5 shows a format of the questionnaire file for saved on thelocal disk by the requester P or the member of the viral search site 10.This questionnaire file format is displayed when the requester P, etc.,accesses the viral search site 10. The requester P, etc., afterinputting necessary items into respective fields, stores contentsthereof on the hard disk 14.

[0150] This questionnaire file contains a name of commercial article, acommercial article code No. (type number), a purchase time, a purchaseplace, a purchase price, a purchase frequency, an evaluation, a degreeof satisfaction, an intention of next purchase and an impression.

[0151] The name of commercial article is a name of the questionnairetarget commercial article. The commercial article code No. is a typenumber of the commercial article concerned.

[0152] The purchase time is specified in a predetermined for such asYYYY/MM/DD.

[0153] The purchase place is a character string for specifying apurchase place. This is, for instance, Tokyo shop of OO departmentstore.

[0154] The purchase price is an amount of money for purchasing thecommercial article concerned. The purchase frequency is indicated suchthat a normal frequency of purchasing the commercial article concernedis O year(s), O month(s) or OO day(s).

[0155] The evaluation is an evaluation in terms of a function and aperformance of the commercial article concerned when compared with othercommercial articles coming under the same commercial article category,and is entered in 10-level numerical values of 1 through 10.

[0156] The degree of satisfaction is a degree of self-satisfaction whenthe requester P, etc., uses the commercial article concerned, and isentered in 10-level numerical values of 1 through 10.

[0157] The intention of next purchase indicates whether the requester P,etc., intends to purchase the commercial article concerned next time ornot, and is described by “intended” or “unintended”.

[0158] The impression is an impression held by the requester P, etc.,about the commercial article concerned, and is a text of which a maximumlength is restricted to a predetermine value.

[0159] <Generation of Cluster>

[0160]FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing clusters for categorizingthe customers in terms of the consumption characteristics of thecustomers for every commercial article. A table in FIG. 6 is a modifiedform of the user cluster definition table 24, wherein the commercialarticle categories are arranged along the vertical axis. Further,factors contributing to purchasing the commercial articles are shownalong the horizontal axis of this table in place of the clusters in theuser cluster definition table 24.

[0161] The factors in the table in FIG. 6 are, however, arranged fromleft in sequence of the contribution rate of each commercial articlefrom the highest to the lowest. For instance, in the case of purchasingthe automobile, the factors showing the larger contribution rates aresequenced such as family members, a brand image and an annual income.

[0162] Then, the participant having characteristics showing threepersons as the family members, the X-company evaluated as the car brandimage and OOO yen as the annual income, is allocated to the cluster 1 ofthe automobile.

[0163] Further, in the “beer” category, the tastes, the brand image anda TV watching time are given in sequence of the contribution rate fromthe highest to the lowest. Then, for example, the participant who likesalcoholic drinks, has a good feeling about a brand of the S-beer and has3 hours everyday as a TV watching time, is allocated to the cluster 4 inthe “beer” category.

[0164] Thus, the cluster is determined based on the characteristics ofthe individual user in the factor exhibiting the high contribution rateto purchasing each commercial article. According to this embodiment, theparticipant is assigned two categories of clusters.

[0165] A first cluster is a cluster based on only the demographic datadefined the basic characteristics. A second cluster is a cluster basedon the detailed characteristic data containing the taste, the opinionand favorite brand. The detailed characteristics are arbitrarilyinputted. It, however, follows that the user having inputted thesecharacteristics is given a more accurate answer than in the case basedon only the basic characteristics.

[0166] <Structure of Query Command>

[0167]FIG. 7 shows structures of the requester query command and of theside query command.

[0168] The requester query command consists of an identifier, aregistration number, a cluster number and a theme. The identifier isinformation indicating that a command concerned is identical with therequester query command. The registration number is a number foridentifying the requester P registered on the viral search site 10.

[0169] The cluster number is a cluster number in a theme of therequester P who queried the viral search site. For instance, if thetheme is concerned about a certain commercial article, the clusternumber is the number of the cluster to which the query originator useris allocated with respect to this commercial article.

[0170] Further, the theme is a content of the query and contains, e.g.,a name of commercial article and a query item. The name of commercialarticle is, for instance, a brand of the commercial article. Further,the query item is, e.g., a purchase price, a degree of satisfaction oran intention of next purchase, etc.

[0171] The site query command is structured of an identifier, a queryID, a TTL and a theme. The identifier is information indicating thatthis command is identical with the site query command.

[0172] The query ID is a serial number that identifies the site querycommand distributed across the network. If the site query command havingthe same query ID is distributed or forwarded twice to the sameparticipant host 11 a, etc., the second site query command is discarded.

[0173] The TTL is a parameter for restricting a forwarding count of thesite query command. The TTL is initialized on the viral search site 10and is decremented each time the site query command is forwarded fromthe participant host 11 a, etc., to the other participant host 11 b,etc.

[0174] The theme is a theme inquired of the viral search site 10 throughthe requester query command. The theme is, for example, a question suchas “What is a degree of satisfaction with the car X ?”.

[0175]FIG. 8 shows a structure of a response command to the site query.The response command is structured of an identifier, a query ID, acluster number and an answer. This identifier is information showingthat the command is identical with the response command.

[0176] Further, the query ID is identical with the query ID contained inthe site query. The query ID is information for identifying which sitequery the response command is given to.

[0177] The cluster number is a cluster number assigned to the responderparticipant A, etc., with respect to the query target commercialarticle.

[0178] The answer is an answer to the theme, wherein this answer is,e.g., that “the degree of satisfaction with the car X is 8”.

[0179] <Hardware Architecture>

[0180]FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a hardware architecture of therequester host 11. Note that the other participant host 11 a, etc., alsohas the architecture similar to the requester host 11. Each of thesehosts is, to be specific, a personal computer, a PDA, a cellular phone,a digital TV, a set-top box connected to a TV monitor, and so on.

[0181] This requester host 11 includes a CPU 12 for executing aninformation processing program, a memory 13 for storing the informationprocessing program executed by the CPU 12 and data processed by the CPU12, a hard disk 14 for recording the information processing program andthe data, a display device 15 for displaying a result of processing bythe CPU 12 to the user, an input unit 16 used for the user to input thedata, and a communication interface module 17 for accessing the networkin accordance with a command given from the CPU 12.

[0182] The CPU 12 executes the information processing program stored onthe memory 13, thereby providing a function as the requester host 11.

[0183] The memory 13 is stored with the information processing programexecuted by the CPU 12 and the data processed by the CPU 12.

[0184] The hard disk 14 records the information processing programexecuted by the CPU 12 and the data processed by the CPU 12.

[0185] The display device 15 displays the data inputted by the user andthe result of processing the inputted data. The display device 15 is,for example, a CRT, a liquid crystal display, a film type liquid crystaldisplay device, a PDP (Plasma Display Panel), an EL(electro-luminescence) panel, an FED (field emission display) and so on.

[0186] The input unit 16 is used for the user to input the information.The input unit 16 is, for instance, a keyboard, a press button dial, amouse, a trackball, a joystick, an electrostatic touch panel, astick-shaped acupoint, a touch panel or an optical pointing device, etc.Any two or more devices may be employed as the input unit 16.

[0187] The communication interface 17 accesses the network in accordancewith the command of the CPU 12, and communicates with the otherparticipant host 11 a, etc., and with the administration host, etc., forproviding the viral search site 10. The communication interface 17 is,for example, a modem card, LAN (Local Area Network), dialup router orBluetooth standard interface, etc.

[0188] Note that the administration host for providing the viral searchsite 10 as a Web page has the architecture similar to the requester host11 has, and hence the explanation thereof is omitted.

[0189] <Operation and Effects>

[0190]FIGS. 10 and 11 show an operation flow in this informationmanagement system. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a step of registeringa member in the viral search site 10 by the requester P and a commercialarticle evaluation write process.

[0191] The requester P, to begin with, downloads the informationprocessing program from a homepage of a operating company, i.e., theviral search site 10 (S1). Next, the requester P executes thisinformation processing program and does the following initial setting.

[0192] Subsequently, the requester P inputs theself-consumption-characteristic (S2). This consumption characteristic iscategorized into the basic characteristics and the detailedcharacteristics. The basic characteristics are, e.g., the distinction ofsex, the age, the family members, the address and the job. Further, thedetailed characteristics are, e.g., the income, the brand image and thepurchase behavior.

[0193] The requester may omit inputting the detailed characteristics.More detailed information based on the detailed characteristics is,however, acquired by inputting the detailed characteristics. Thecharacteristics given above are saved on the hard disk 14 of therequester host 11, etc.

[0194] Next, the requester P inputs an acknowledgement of the commercialarticles of the agreement with the operating company (S3). Thecommercial articles of the agreement prescribe that, for instance, therequester shall neither make any false answers nor sell any informationof other companies, and so forth.

[0195] Next, the requester P inputs the self-purchased commercialarticle, such as the evaluation, the purchase place, the purchase price,the degree of satisfaction, the intention of next purchase, etc., atleast five or more articles (S4).

[0196] Through inputting as described above, the requester is approvedas a member of the viral search site 10. As a result, the recommendationinformation (recommendation) can be obtained by searching for theinformation of other members (S5). Note that the member of the viralsearch site 10 is able to input the evaluation of the commercial articlepurchased afresh by the member himself or herself.

[0197]FIG. 11 shows an operation flow when the requester makes a query,i.e., when searching for the information of other person. The requesterat first invokes a homepage of the operating company, i.e., the viralsearch site 10 (S6).

[0198] Next, the requester designates a wish-to-search theme, e.g., thecommercial article (item) and a content of the search (S7).

[0199] Then, the viral search site 10 compares the consumptioncharacteristic of the requester P with the consumption characteristic ofthe member searched for. Subsequently, the viral search site 10 gathersresults of the searching of the participant members having the similarconsumption characteristics (S8).

[0200] The similarity of the consumption characteristic in thisembodiment is judged based on the cluster number assigned to eachparticipant A, etc., and the requester P, etc., for every commercialarticle. Namely, at first, the answers of the participant memberscoincident with the cluster number of the requester P are gathered.

[0201] When a sufficient answer count is not obtained from only theanswers of those coincident with the cluster number, however, thefiltering condition is slackened down to clusters adjacent to thecluster number of the requester P, thus collecting the answers. Further,free answers of the respective members, i.e., free text-formattedimpressions, etc., are totaled in a series-of-list format.

[0202] Next, the viral search site 10 creates a total table from theresults of the collections described above (S9). Subsequently, the viralsearch site 10 creates, based on the total table, the recommendationinformation (recommendation) (S10). The recommendation informationcontains a list of the free answers.

[0203]FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing processing steps of the informationprocessing program executed on the requester host 11 and on theparticipant host 11 a, etc. The CPU 12 executes this informationprocessing program, thereby providing a function as the participant host11 a, etc., of the viral search site 10.

[0204] The CPU 12, after executing this information processing program,comes to a wait-for-event status (S20, S21). An event is a factor thatchanges the control status of the CPU 12.

[0205] When the event occurs (YES in S21), the CPU 12 judges whether theevent is a receipt of the query or not (S22). If the event is thereceipt of the query, the CPU 12 executes a response process to thequery (S23). Thereafter, the CPU 12 returns the control to S20.

[0206] On the other hand, if the event is not the receipt of the query,the CPU 12 judges whether or not the event is a receipt of the answer(S24). If the event is the receipt of the answer, the CPU 12 transfersthis answer to the query forwarding source (S25). Thereafter, the CPU 12returns the control to S20.

[0207] On the other hand, if the event is not the receipt of the query,the CPU 12 executes nothing and returns the control to S20.

[0208]FIG. 13 shows details of the response process to the query. Inthis process, the CPU 12 at first judges whether or not the queryconcerned has already been received. Whether already received or not isjudged by checking whether the query ID described in the query headerhas already been received or not. The received query ID is saved on anunillustrated ring buffer. If the query ID has been already received(YES in S231), the CPU 12 discards the query concerned and finishes theresponse process to this query.

[0209] Whereas if not received (NO in S231), the CPU 12 saves the queryID of this query on the unillustrated ring buffer (S232).

[0210] Next, the CPU 12 searches for an answer corresponding to thequery through on the hard disk 14 (S233).

[0211] Then, the answer to the query is found out on the hard disk 14(YES in S234), this answer is sent back to the query forwarding source(S235).

[0212] Next, the CPU 12 decrements the TTL by 1 (S236). Then, the CPU 12judges whether the TTL is larger than 0 or not (S237).

[0213] If the TTL is larger than 0, the CPU 12 further forwards thequery to the participant host 11 b, etc., connected to the host itself(S238). Thereafter, the CPU 12 finishes the response process to thequery.

[0214] By contrast, if the TTL is equal to or smaller than 0, the CPU 12directly finishes the response process to the query.

[0215]FIGS. 14 through 16 show processes of a site management program ofthe viral search site 10. The administration host for providing theviral search site 10 executes the site management program, therebyproviding functions of the viral search site.

[0216] During the execution of the site management program, theadministration host is normally in the wait-for-event status (S40, S41).When an event occurs, the administration host judges whether or not theevent is a distribution request (S42). If the event is the distributionrequest, the administration host executes a query distribution process(S43). Thereafter, the administration host returns the control to S40.

[0217] Whereas if the event is not the distribution request, theadministration host judges whether or not the event is a receipt of theanswer (S44). If the event is the receipt of the answer, theadministration host executes an answer totaling process (S45).Thereafter, the administration host returns the control to S40. Whereasif the event is not the receipt of the answer, the administration hostexecutes nothing and returns the control to S40.

[0218]FIG. 15 shows details of the query distribution process. In thisprocess, the administration host, to begin with, searches through anoccurrence rate table of the query target commercial article (S431).

[0219] Next, the administration host sets the TTL based on an occurrencerate of the commercial article concerned (S432). For example, the TTL isdetermined by (Formula 1) which follows.

TTL=log2(Predetermined Total Sample Count×OccurrenceRate)×Coefficient  (Formula 1)

[0220] Herein, the predetermined total sample count is the number ofanswers to the query which are to be collected, and is a target valuefor obtaining statistically significant samples.

[0221] Further, the occurrence rate is a spread rate at which thecommercial article concerned spreads among the users. As shown in FIG.2, for instance, the automobile is recorded in the occurrence rate tablesuch that the occurrence rate is 5 nodes, this indicates one automobilefor every five users.

[0222] Moreover, the coefficient is a safety rate for surely obtainingthe answers of the predetermined total sample count, and values of,e.g., 1 through 100 are used.

[0223] Next, the administration host determines the query ID (S433). Thequery ID is a serial number for identifying the query.

[0224] Subsequently, the administration host generates the site querycommand in the format in FIG. 7 (S434).

[0225] Next, the administration host searches for a destination addressof the distribution (S435). The participant host 11 a as thedistribution is the participant host having a communication result inthe past. If each of the participant hosts 11 a, etc., is connected tothe network for the first time and has no communication result, however,the distribution destination is determined beforehand by a host search.

[0226] The host search is a process of searching for a host answerableto the query. The host search is a special query for recruiting theparticipant hosts. The forwarding and answering steps in the host searchare the same as in the case of the site query.

[0227] Next, the administration host distributes the site query command(S436).

[0228] Subsequently, the administration host sets a wait-for-answerstatus (S437). In this process, the query ID is registered in anunillustrated wait-for-answer table. Thereafter, the administration hostfinishes processing.

[0229]FIG. 16 shows an answer totaling process. In this process, atfirst the administration host executes a receiving process (S451). Inthis process, the administration host stores the memory with the answersreceived in an unillustrated mail box.

[0230] Next, the administration host judges whether or not apredetermined number of answers are totaled (S452). If the predeterminednumber of answers are not totaled, the administration host furtherjudges whether it is a time-over nor not (S453). This schemes todiscontinue the answer totaling process at a predetermined time.

[0231] If not the time-over, the administration host terminates theanswer totaling process. As a result, the wait-for-answer to the querycontinues. If it is the time-over, the administration host advances thecontrol to S454.

[0232] When judging in S452 that the predetermined number of answers aretotaled, or when judging in S453 that it is the time-over, theadministration host executes a totaling/sending-back process (S454).This process is a process of totaling the answers saved on the memoryand sending it back to the requester host 11.

[0233] Next, the administration host cancels the wait-for-answer status(S455). Namely, the administration host deletes the query ID concernedfrom the unillustrated wait-for-answer table.

[0234]FIG. 17 shows details of the totaling/sending-back process. Inthis process, the administration host at first executes a filteringprocess (S4541). In this process, there are totaled the answers havingthe cluster number coincident with the cluster number of the requester Pwith respect to the commercial article related to the query among theanswers saved in the process in S451 in FIG. 16. Further, the freeanswers contained in the answers are accumulated in the series-of-listformat.

[0235] Next, the administration host judges whether the answers of thetotal sample count as a significant count are collected or not (S4542).The significant count is the predetermined value prescribed on the viralsearch site 10.

[0236] If there is not the significant total sample count, theadministration host slackens the filtering condition and executes are-filtering process (S4540). In the first filtering process, only theanswers having the cluster number coincident with the cluster number ofthe requester P are collected with respect to the query targetcommercial article.

[0237] In the re-filtering process, the answers having the clusternumbers adjacent to the cluster number of the requester P are collected.Thus, the process in S4541 is repeated till the answers of thesignificant sample count are gathered in a way that slackens thefiltering condition.

[0238] Next, the administration host executes a statistic process(S4543). Herein, for instance, a degree-of-satisfaction distribution ofthe commercial article, and maximum, minimum, average and standarddeviations are calculated from the answers.

[0239] Subsequently, the administration host creates the recommendationinformation (S4544). As for this answer, there are shown adegree-of-satisfaction distribution of, for example, the commercialarticle X and a list of free answers. Next, the administration hostsends the recommendation information back to the requester host 11(S4545).

[0240] As discussed above, according to the information processingsystem in this embodiment, in response to the search request of therequester P, the evaluation results of the commercial articles purchasedby the participant members A, etc., in the viral search site 10 aregathered, and the recommendation information can be generated from theso-called word-of-mouth information.

[0241] Further, the viral search site 10. With respect to the querytarget commercial article, collects the answers having the clusternumber(s) that is the same as or adjacent to the cluster number of therequester P. This cluster number is the number for categorizing themembers exhibiting the similar factor having the high contribution rateto the purchase of the commercial article, and the recommendationinformation adequate to the requester P is generated.

[0242] Moreover, the results of the evaluations by the participantmembers may be stored on the participant host 11 a, etc., at a propertiming after the members have evaluated the commercial article. Then,when the query is given from the requester, the necessary items ofinformation are collected from the participant hosts 11 a, etc., havingthe evaluation results as the answers in response to this query.

[0243] Accordingly, each of the participant members 11 a, etc., has nonecessity of answering particularly by synchronizing with the searchrequest from the requester P. Namely, each member may accumulates theinformation on the commercial articles purchased day by day by themember himself or herself. Thus, it follows that the informationaccumulated in distribution is provided to a necessary requester P at anecessary time.

[0244] <Modification of Step of Collecting Answers to Search Request>

[0245] According to the embodiment discussed above, when the answer tothe search request is hit, this answer is sent back to the forwardingsource. Namely, the answer is sent back tracing the sequence reversed tothe forwarding sequence. The embodiment of the present invention is not,however, limited to the answering steps given above. For example, theanswer may be sent back directly to the viral search site 10 from theparticipant host 11 c, etc., with the answer hit. FIGS. 18 through 23show system architectures of such a system, a data structure orprocesses.

[0246] [Example of Sending Answer Back Directly to Viral Search Site 10from Answerer]

[0247]FIG. 18 shows the system architecture of sending the answer backdirectly to the viral search site 10 from the answerer. Referring toFIG. 18, the answer to the search request is hit on the participanthosts 11 c, 11 e and 11 f. Then, this answer is given directly to theviral search site 10 from these participant hosts 11 c, 11 e, 11 f.

[0248] For attaining this, the respective participant hosts 11 c, etc.,may retain an on-the-network address of the viral search site 10. Otherconfigurations and operations in FIG. 18 are the same as those in FIG.1, and hence their explanations are omitted.

[0249] [Example of Filtering and Totaling by Requester Host 11]

[0250] In the embodiment discussed above, the viral search site 10gathers the answers to the search request, then executes thepredetermined filtering thereof and totals the answers, thereby creatingthe recommendation information. The embodiment of the present inventionis not, however, confined to this scheme. For example, the requesterhost 11 may execute a part of the processes after totaling the answers.

[0251]FIG. 19 shows an example of the system architecture of such aninformation management system. In the system also in FIG. 19, the answerto the query is similarly sent back directly to the viral search site 10as by the system in FIG. 18.

[0252] According to the system in FIG. 19, however, the viral searchsite 10 gathers the answers and executes filtering based on thesimilarity of the factor exhibiting the high contribution rate to thepurchase of the commercial article. Then, the viral search site 10anonymizes the information having undergone filtering and transfers itto the requester host 11. The requester host 11 may total and edit thetransferred answers, thereby creating the recommendation information.

[0253]FIG. 20 shows processes of the site management program in thesystem in FIG. 19. In FIG. 20, the processes from S40 to S44 are thesame as those in FIG. 14. Then, these processes are marked with the samesymbols as those in FIG. 14, and their explanations are omitted.

[0254] The administration host, upon receiving the answer (YES in S44),executes the filtering process (S45 a). This process is a process oftotaling the answers having the cluster number(s) coincident with oradjacent to the cluster number of the requester P with respect to thequery target commercial article.

[0255] Next, the administration host deletes from the answer theinformation that specifies an individual, such as an on-the-networkaddress, etc., and creates anonymous information (S45 b).

[0256] Next, the administration host sends the anonymous informationback to the requester host 11 (S45 c). The requester host 11 executesthe totaling process of the answers, and so on.

[0257] [Example of Sending Answer Back Directly to Requester Host 11from Answerer]

[0258]FIG. 21 shows an architecture of the system in which the answer issent back directly to the requester host 11 from the participant host 11c, etc., without through the viral search site 10. In FIG. 21, as in thecase of the systems shown in FIGS. 1, 18 and 19, the query is forwardedsequentially from the viral search site 10 to the participant hosts 11a, etc. Referring to FIG. 21, however, the participant hosts 11 c, e,etc., with the hit answer to the query send the answers back directly tothe requester host 11.

[0259] Then, the requester host 11 collects the answers, executes thepredetermined filtering, totals the answers after the filtering andcreates the recommendation information.

[0260] Thus, the on-the-network address of the requester host 11 may beexplicitly contained in site query command to be forwarded in order forthe participant host 11 c, etc., to transfer the answer directly to therequester host 11.

[0261] Further, the requester host 11 has the user cluster definitiontable 24 recorded with the cluster number of the requester P withrespect to each commercial article. The requester terminal P selects theanswer having the cluster number coincident with the cluster number ofthe requester P, and thus may execute filtering.

[0262] Note that the requester host 111 may, as shown in FIG. 19 or 21,collect the answers, then execute filtering or totaling and thus createthe recommendation information also in the system in which the answer issent to the forwarding source as shown in FIG. 1. In this case, theviral search site 10 may transfer the answers directly to the requesterhost 11 without filtering the answers.

[0263] [Modification of Filtering Process]

[0264] According to the embodiment discussed above, the answers arefiltered on the word-of-mouth search site 10. In FIG. 21 showing themodified example given above, the requester host 11 executes filteringof the answers. The embodiment of the present invention is not, however,limited these steps. For example, each of the participant host 11 a mayexecute filtering.

[0265]FIG. 22 shows a structure of the site query command at this time.This site query command has an addition of the cluster number ascompared with the site query command shown in FIG. 7. This clusternumber is a number indicating the cluster of the requester P withrespect to the query target commercial article.

[0266]FIG. 23 shows a response process in each of the participant hosts11 a, etc., when the thus structured site query command is distributed.This process is different from the case in FIG. 13 in terms of such apoint that a judgement in S23 a is added after the query ID savingprocess (S232).

[0267] In this process, in each of the participant hosts 11 a, etc., theCPU 12 judges whether or not the cluster number of the requester P iscoincident with the cluster number of the user (who is the answererparticipant A, etc.) of the participant host 11 a concerned (s23 a).

[0268] If these cluster numbers are coincident with each other, the CPU12 advances the control to S23 and searches through the hard disk 14.

[0269] Whereas if these answer patterns are not coincident, the CPU 12does not search through the self hard disk 14 and advances the controlto S236. Other processes are the same as those in FIG. 13 and thereforegiven the same symbols, and their explanations are omitted.

[0270] Thus, the participant host 11 a performs filtering, therebymaking it possible to reduce the answers sent back and to restrain atraffic.

[0271] <Other Modifications>

[0272] According to the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, each ofthe requester hosts 11 and the participant hosts 11 a, etc., has theuser cluster definition table 24. The embodiment of the presentinvention is not, however, limited to this scheme. For instance, theviral search site 10 may create the user cluster definition table 24,and the administration host may retain the table 24 as it is. The viralsearch site 10 may retain the user cluster definition tables 24 of theindividual participant members, wherein the registration numbers foridentifying the participant members are used as keys.

[0273] Then, when the requester P makes a request for the query, theregistration number may be transferred to the viral search site 10. Theviral search site 10 searches for, based on the registration numberthereof, the user cluster definition table 24 of this requester P, thusobtaining the cluster number thereof.

[0274] According to the embodiment discussed above, the query is createdon the homepage of the viral search site 10. The embodiment of thepresent invention is not, however, limited to such a procedure.

[0275] For example, the information processing program downloaded fromthe viral search site 10 may be provided with a user interface (UI) forthe user to input a query theme, and this may be transmitted to theviral search site 10.

[0276] Moreover, the query may also be created in a predetermined formatby use of a normal text editor, a spreadsheet or a word processor, etc.In this case, the query, i.e., the requester query may be delivered byE-mail to the viral search site 10. Further, the recommendationinformation created by totaling the answers may also be sent by E-mailback to the requester host 11 from the viral search site 10.

[0277] In the system according to the embodiment discussed above, theanswers to the query are directly gathered. The embodiment of thepresent invention is not, however, limited to such a procedure. Forinstance, a location of a file stored with the answers, e.g., theon-the-network address of the participant host 11 a, etc., with theanswer hit and a file name of the file thereof, may also be collected onthe viral search site 10 or the requester host 11.

[0278] Then, the viral search site 10 or the requester host 11 maydownload the file from the participant host 11 a, etc.

[0279] According to the embodiment discussed above, the requester Pinvokes the homepage of the viral search site 10 and inputs the querytheme, i.e., the wish-to-search-for item and the search content as well.The embodiment of the present invention is not, restricted to such aprocedure.

[0280] For example, the requester P may, on the requester terminal 11,create the query by utilizing the text creation programs such as thetext editor, the word processor program, the spreadsheet program and soon. The requester P creates those queries based on a predetermined formand may transmit them by e-mail, etc., to the viral search site 10.

[0281] Further, in the embodiment discussed above, the requester Pexecutes the initial setting based on the information processing programdownloaded from the homepage of the viral search site 10, and inputs theself consumption characteristics and the evaluation of the commercialarticle, etc. (the processes in FIG. 10). The embodiment of the presentinvention is not, however, confined to such a procedure.

[0282] For instance, in the initial setting based on the informationprocessing program downloaded from the homepage of the viral searchsite, there may be designated an area for accumulating the selfconsumption characteristics and the commercial article evaluation, e.g.,a folder, etc., within the hard disk 14. Then, the requester P may inputthe self consumption characteristics and the commercial articleevaluation, etc., in this area by use of the text creation programs suchas the text editor, the word processor program, the spreadsheet programand so forth.

[0283] In the embodiment discussed above, the TTL is used forrestricting the limitless query forwarding. The embodiment of thepresent invention is not, however, confined to this scheme. Forinstance, there may be taken such a scheme that an initial distributiontime is set in the site query, and the query with an elapse of apredetermined time since this initial distribution time is discarded.There may further taken a scheme, wherein an effective period is set inthe site query, and the query with an expiration of this effectiveperiod is discarded.

[0284] False answers sent back may be detected, and the filtering foreliminating these false answers may be executed. This scheme may beperformed by accumulating a history of the answers during apredetermined period for every participant member and judging aconsistency of the answers.

[0285] <<Second Embodiment>>

[0286] A second embodiment of the present invention will be describedwith reference to the drawings in FIGS. 24 through 26. According to thefirst embodiment, the requester P makes the request for the search viathe viral search site from on the requester host 11. There will beexplained an information management system in the second embodiment,wherein the requester makes the request from on the requester host 11without through the viral search site 10, and the answers are collected.

[0287] Other configurations and operations in the second embodiment arethe same as those in the first embodiment. Such being the case, the samecomponents are marked with the same symbols, and their explanations areomitted. Further, the drawings in FIGS. 1 through 23 are referred toaccording to the necessity.

[0288] <Outline of Functions>

[0289]FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a control flow for establishing aconnection with each of participant hosts 11 a 1, etc. The connectionimplies a relationship showing a connection sequence with theparticipant host 11 a 1, etc., that is requested to search, i.e.,queried by the requester host 11.

[0290] (1) To start with, the requester P accesses a predeterminedhomepage from on the requester host 11 and acquires a server list, i.e.,a list of the participant hosts 11 a 1, etc.

[0291] (2) The requester P delivers from the requester host 11 a messagefor searching out a host acceptable of a search request on the network.This type of message is already known as “ping” in “Gnutella” defined asa protocol for searching through TCP/IP-based distributed databases.

[0292] This ping is forwarded sequentially across the hosts on thenetwork. Among the hosts receiving ping, the host capable of respondingto the search request sends, back to the requester host, a self-addresson the network, a file count of files sharable with other hosts on thenetwork and a whole data size of the files. This reply is known as“pong” in the Gnutella protocol described above. This pong istransmitted tracing the forwarding route back to the requester host 11.

[0293] The Gnutella protocol is described on a homepage, e.g.,“http://www.Gnutella.org, etc., on the Internet. In this embodiment,however, the host search is not limited to the procedure defined inGnutella.

[0294] (3) The requester host, just when receiving the reply (pong) fromany one of the hosts, enters the network (that is a link of theparticipant hosts 11 a 1, etc.) built up the participant hosts describedabove, and can make the search request.

[0295]FIG. 25 shows a procedure for obtaining the answer by making arequest for query to the link of the participant hosts 11 a 1, etc.,which is built up in the procedure in FIG. 24. This query message isknown as “query” according to the Gnutella protocol.

[0296] Herein, a content of the query is, as in the first embodiment,the question of “What is a degree of satisfaction with the commercialarticle X ?”, and so forth. Further, each of the participant hosts 11 a1, etc., stores, as in the first embodiment, the consumptioncharacteristics of the participant members A, etc., and thequestionnaire files, etc., on the hard disk 14 of each of theparticipant hosts 11 a 1, etc.

[0297] The requester host 11 makes the query request to the participanthosts 11 a 1, etc., found out based on the procedure in FIG. 24. Then,the participant host 11 a 1, etc., searches for an answer to this queryon the self hard disk 14.

[0298] Moreover, the participant host 11 a 1, etc., decrements the TLLby 1 and judges whether the TTL is larger than 0 or not. Then, theparticipant host 11 a 1, etc., if the TTL is larger than 0, forwardsthis query to the participant hosts 11 a 2, 11 b 1, etc., that arelinked to the host 11 a 1 itself.

[0299] The query is thus sequentially forwarded till the TTL comes to 0.On the other hand, the participant host 11 a 1 etc., to which the queryis thus forwarded, when detecting the answers to this query, sends backto the forwarding source of the search request the on-the-networkaddress of the participant host 11 a 1, etc., the file count of thefiles recorded with these answers, sizes of the respective files andfile names. This reply is known as “query hit” in the Gnutella protocol.

[0300] Thus, the requester host 11 consecutively gathers locations ofthe files stored with the answers to the search requests.

[0301] The requester host 11 downloads the answers to the search requestin accordance with the addresses of the participant hosts with theinformation thus collected and the file names. The processes such asfiltering and totaling those answers and creating the recommendationinformation are the same as those in the first embodiment, and hencetheir explanations are omitted.

[0302] As described above, the information processing system in thesecond embodiment can be configured without the operating companyexisting as the viral search site 10 exemplified in the firstembodiment.

[0303] <Operation>

[0304] Processing steps of the information processing program executedby the CPU 12 of the requester host 11 in this embodiment, will beexplained referring to FIG. 26. The CPU 12 executes this informationprocessing program, thereby providing a function as the requester host11.

[0305] The CPU 12 is, during the execution of this informationprocessing program, in a wait-for-event status (S60, S61). When an eventoccurs, the CPU 12 judges a category of the event.

[0306] At first, the CPU 12 judges whether or not the event is to setthe basic characteristics (S62). The basic characteristics are definedas so-called demographic data such as an address (or a post code), anage, a distinction of sex, a job and so on.

[0307] If the event is the setting of the basic characteristics, the CPU12 executes a basic characteristic setting process (S63). In thisprocess, an unillustrated basic characteristic setting screen isdisplayed, and the requester P is therefore able to set the requester'sown basic characteristics. Thereafter, the CPU 12 returns the control toS60.

[0308] Whereas if not the setting of the basic characteristics, the CPU12 judges whether or not the event is to set detailed characteristics(S64). The detailed characteristics are defined as so-calledpsychographic data such as a taste, an opinion, a favorite brand and soforth.

[0309] If the event is the setting of the detailed characteristics, theCPU 12 executes a detailed characteristic setting process (S65). In thisprocess, an unillustrated detailed characteristic setting screen isdisplayed, and the requester P is therefore able to set the requester'sown detailed characteristics. Thereafter, the CPU 12 returns the controlto S60.

[0310] Whereas if not the setting of the detailed characteristics, theCPU 12 judges whether or not the event is a registration of a commercialarticle evaluation (S66).

[0311] If the event is the registration of the commercial articleevaluation, the CPU 12 executes a commercial article evaluationregistering process (S67). In this process, an unillustrated commercialarticle evaluation registering screen is displayed, and the requester Pis therefore able to set an evaluation, a degree of satisfaction, etc.,of the commercial article used by the requester himself or herself.Thereafter, the CPU 12 returns the control to S60.

[0312] Whereas if not the registration of the commercial articleevaluation, the CPU 12 judges whether or not the event is to create aquery and to transmit this query (S68).

[0313] If the event is the creation of the query and the transmissionthereof, the CPU 12 executes a query creating/transmitting process(S69). In this process, an unillustrated query creating/transmittingscreen is displayed, and the requester P is therefore able to set adesired theme, e.g., a specified commercial article and a degree ofsatisfaction with this commercial article. Then, the requester cantransmit a content of the query as it is. Thereafter, the CPU 12 returnsthe control to S60.

[0314] Whereas if not the creation of the query and transmissionthereof, the CPU 12 judges whether or not the event is a receipt of theanswer (S6 a).

[0315] If the event is the receipt of the answer, the CPU 12 executes ananswer receiving process (S6 b). In this process, the CPU 12 checkswhether or not the answer is received in an unillustrated mail box.Then, the CPU 12, if the answer is received therein, executes a totalingprocess. This totaling process includes the filtering process. The stepsof the totaling process and the filtering process are the same as thosein the first embodiment, and hence their explanations are omitted.

[0316] As discussed above, the system in the second embodiment iscapable of collecting the answers to the query without the viral searchsite 10.

[0317] <Modified Example>

[0318] According to the system in the second embodiment, the requesterhost collects the locations of the files retaining the answers. Theembodiment of the present invention is not, however, limited to such aprocedure. For instance, the answer itself to the query, e.g., an answerthat “the degree of satisfaction with the commercial article X is 9” maybe sent back.

[0319] <<Third Embodiment>>

[0320] A third embodiment of the present invention will be describedwith reference to FIGS. 27 and 28. In the first and second embodiments,there has been explained the information management system forcollecting the information about the query such as “What is a degree ofsatisfaction of the purchaser of the commercial article X ?”, and forcreating the recommendation information of the commercial article.

[0321] The third embodiment will discuss an information managementsystem for collecting the information used for a member subscribing acommercial article sales site to sell a commercial article.

[0322] The commercial article sales site in the third embodiment acceptsan offer of selling or purchasing the commercial article from therequester P. Then, this commercial article sales site distributes aquery to the participant host 11 a 1, etc., with respect to the offeredcommercial article.

[0323] The participant host 11 a 1, etc., retains a commercial articlethat the participant member A, etc., desired to purchase, a desiredpurchase price thereof, a desire-to-sell commercial article and adesired sale price thereof. Then, when the query described above isdistributed, each of the participant hosts 11 a, etc., judges whether ornot the query target commercial article is coincident with theself-retained desired purchase price or desire-to-sell commercialarticle. Then, if coincident, each of participant hosts 11 a, etc.,sends back a response.

[0324] Thus, the third embodiment is different from the first and secondembodiments in terms of such a point that the query theme is the offerof selling or purchasing the commercial article. The configuration andthe operation of the commercial article sales site are the same as thoseof the viral search site 10 in the first embodiment. Such being thecase, the drawings in FIGS. 1 through 26 are referred to according tothe necessity.

[0325] <Outline of Functions>

[0326] The member subscribing the commercial article sales site recordsthe desired purchase price of the desired commercial article in the selfparticipant host 11 a, etc. Corresponding to this, the person desiringto sell the commercial article offers a sale of the commercial article.

[0327] The commercial article sales site adds up the desired purchaseprices of the commercial article concerned, which are recorded in therespective participant hosts 11 a, etc., by the participant members A,etc. Then, the commercial article sales site selects the member whodesires to purchase it at the highest price, and presents it to theperson desiring to sell the commercial article.

[0328] Further, the member subscribing the commercial article sales siterecords a desired sale price of a stock commercial article on hand inthe self participant host 11 a, etc. Corresponding to this, the persondesiring to purchase the commercial article offers a purchase of thecommercial article.

[0329] The commercial article sales site adds up the desired sale pricesof the commercial article concerned, which are recorded in therespective participant hosts 11 a, etc., by the members. Then, thecommercial article sales site selects the member who desires to sell itat the lowest price, and presents it to the person desiring to purchasethe commercial article.

[0330] <Operation and Effect>

[0331]FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing processes when selling thecommercial article. The unillustrated administration host foradministering the commercial article sales site executes the processesin FIG. 27 and supports the sales of the commercial articles.

[0332] To begin with, the administration host distributes the query toeach of the participant hosts 11 a, etc., and totals the desiredpurchase prices of the commercial article concerned (S70). Thedistribution process and the totaling process are the same as those inFIGS. 15 and 16 in the first embodiment, and hence their explanationsare omitted.

[0333] Next, the administration host judges whether or not the totalingof a predetermined number of answers is finished (S71). If the totalingof the predetermined number of answers is not finished, theadministration host terminates the answer totaling process. Uponterminating this process, as in the first embodiment, there comes to thewait-for-event status. Accordingly, the wait-for-answer statuscontinues.

[0334] When judging in S71 that the totaling of the predetermined numberof answers is finished, the administration host selects the persondesiring to purchase the commercial article at the maximum price fromthe collected answers (S72).

[0335] Next, the administration host displays the desire-to-purchaseperson to the desire-to-sell person (S73). Subsequent to this, thedesire-to-sell person may inform the desire-to-purchase person of anacknowledgement of selling the commercial article.

[0336] Next, the administration host cancels the wait-for-answer status(S74). Thereafter, the administration host finishes the answer totalingprocess.

[0337]FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing processes when purchasing thecommercial article. The unillustrated administration host administeringthe commercial article sale site executes processes in FIG. 28 andsupports the purchase of the commercial article.

[0338] To begin with, the administration host distributes the query toeach of the participant hosts 11 a, etc., and totals the desired saleprices of the commercial article concerned (S80).

[0339] Next, the administration host judges whether or not the totalingof a predetermined number of answers is finished (S81). If the totalingof the predetermined number of answers is not finished, theadministration host terminates the answer totaling process. Uponterminating this process, as in the first embodiment, there comes to thewait-for-event status. Accordingly, the wait-for-answer statuscontinues.

[0340] When judging in S81 that the totaling of the predetermined numberof answers is finished, the administration host selects the persondesiring to sell the commercial article at the minimum price from thecollected answers (S82).

[0341] Next, the administration host displays the desire-to-sell personto the desire-to-purchase person (S83). Subsequent to this, thedesire-to-purchase person may inform the desire-to-sell person of anacknowledgement of purchasing the commercial article.

[0342] Next, the administration host cancels the wait-for-answer status(S84). Thereafter, the administration host finishes the answer totalingprocess.

[0343] As discussed above, the information management system in thethird embodiment is capable of searching for the member who desires topurchase the commercial article at the maximum price for the desire tosell the commercial article. Moreover, it is possible to search for themember desiring to sell the commercial article at the minimum price forthe desire to purchase the commercial article.

[0344] Further, according to this system, the desired purchase prices ofall the members subscribing the commercial article sale site arecollected just when the offer of selling the commercial article isgiven. Accordingly, the person desiring to sell the commercial articlehas no necessity of waiting for the desire-to-purchase person to answer,and the sale of the commercial article can be promoted without takingany informational synchronization with the desire-to-purchase person.

[0345] Further, this desire-to-purchase person simply records thedesired purchase price on the hard disk 24, etc., of the selfparticipant host 11 a, and the administration host properly collects thedesires for the purchase. Accordingly, the desire-to-purchase person isnot required to see the commercial article sales site. The effectsdescribed above are the same also when the desire-to-purchase person ofthe commercial article offers the purchase of the commercial article.

[0346] <Modified Example>

[0347] In the embodiment discussed above, in the answer totalingprocess, the desire-to-purchase person presenting the maximum price ordesire-to-sell person presenting the minimum price is selected. Theembodiment of the present invention is not, however, limited to such aprocedure.

[0348] For instance, among the desire-to-purchase persons, apredetermined number of persons may be selected in sequence of thedesired purchase price from the highest to the lowest and displayed tothe requester P. Further, among the desire-to-sell persons, apredetermined number of persons may be selected in sequence of thedesired sell price from the lowest to the highest and displayed to therequester P.

[0349] The embodiment discussed above has exemplified the sale and thepurchase of the commercial article in the information management systemfor managing the information in distribution. The utilization of thisinformation management system is not confined to such an object.

[0350] For example, this information management system may be utilizedfor monitors for the commercial articles and services. Namely, themember registered on the monitor records degrees of satisfaction withthe commercial article and the service on the hard disk of host 11 a,etc., of participant himself.

[0351] Further, for example, impressions, etc., about TV programs arerecorded in a predetermined format. A monitor sponsor may make periodicqueries about monitor results thus recorded in distribution and maycollect these monitor results.

[0352] Further, this information management system can be utilized forgathering contribution articles to magazines and newspapers. Forinstance, a magazine publishing company and a newspaper publishingcompany recruit reader correspondents. The reader correspondent isregistered on an unillustrated administration host.

[0353] The reader correspondent registered thereon records aself-writing work and a contribution article on the hard disk 14everyday. The magazine publishing company and the newspaper publishingcompany distribute queries related to necessary themes as the necessityarises, and may collect the articles matching with these themes.

[0354] With this scheme, the magazine publishing company and thenewspaper publishing company can gather the necessary articles whenrequired. The reader correspondents with their articles adopted are paidfees.

[0355] <<Fourth Embodiment>>

[0356] A fourth embodiment of the present invention will be describedwith reference to FIGS. 29 and 30. The first through third embodimentsdiscussed above have dealt with the information management system forcollecting the information by forwarding the query to among theparticipant hosts that are peer-to-peer-connected with each other.

[0357] In the fourth embodiment, an information management system formulticasting the query will be explained. The procedures other thanmulticasting are the same as those in the first through thirdembodiments. Such being the case, the drawings in FIGS. 1 through 28 arereferred to according to the necessity.

[0358] <Application of Multicasting Communication>

[0359] The multicast is known as a technology of simultaneouslytransmitting the data to a multiplicity of receiving hosts from onetransmitting host. The multicast involves using multicast addresses.

[0360] When the transmitting host transmits the data to the multicastaddresses, all the receiving hosts recognizing these multicast addressesas their own addresses, receive the data.

[0361] This type of multicast addresses are assigned beforehand whenrecruiting subscribers for the multicast addresses. According to theinformation management system in the fourth embodiment, the hosts 11 a,etc., utilized by the participant members A, etc., are categorized intoa plurality of groups, and each group is assigned a multicast address.

[0362] The unillustrated administration host records the number of themembers of each group and the multicast addresses of the groups in amanagement table on the memory 13. The administration host, whenrequested to distribute a query, forwards this query to a predeterminednumber of multicast addresses in a predetermined sequence. With thisscheme, the query is multicast to the respective subscribers, and thesubscribers having information coincident with the query send answersback to the administration host.

[0363] <Operation and Effect>

[0364]FIG. 29 shows a multicast-based query distribution process. Theadministration host executes the process shown in FIG. 29, therebyproviding a distribution function.

[0365] At first, the administration host generates a query command (S431a). This query command, unlike the site query command exemplified in thefirst embodiment, does not require the query ID. The reason is that thedata are transmitted to the subscribers having the specified multicastaddresses, and hence it does not happen that the same query isredundantly sent to the single subscriber.

[0366] Next, the administration host searches for an occurrence rate ofa query target commercial article in the occurrence rate table 21 (S432a).

[0367] Subsequently, the administration host determines a distributiondestination host count (S433 a). For example, the distributiondestination host count is determined by the following (Formula 2).

Distribution Destination Host count=Predetermined Collection SampleCount×Occurrence Rate×Coefficient  (Formula 2)

[0368] Herein, the predetermined collection sample count, the occurrencerate and the coefficient are the same as those in (Formula 1) in thefirst embodiment, and hence their explanations are omitted.

[0369] Subsequently, the administration host searches for the multicastaddress in the predetermined sequence from the management table recordedon the memory 13 (S434 a).

[0370] Next, the administration host multicasts the query to themulticast address (S435 a).

[0371] Ensuingly, the administration host judges whether or not thedistributions corresponding to a distribution destination count arecompleted (S436 a). If the distributions corresponding to thedistribution destination count are not yet completed, the administrationhost sets the control back to S433 a. A next multicast address isthereby searched for, and the multicasting is further repeated.

[0372] Whereas if the distributions corresponding to the distributiondestination count are completed, the administration host sets thewait-for-answer status. At this time, there are recorded the address ofthe requester host 11 originating the query, the multicast address usedand a total number of the hosts to which the query is distributed.

[0373] Note that a response to the multicasting is sent back to theadministration host from the answerer host through one-to-onecommunications based on the normal communication protocol such asTCP/IP, etc. This response may be received by, e.g., an E-mail and mayalso be received as a file in a predetermined area on the hard disk 14by utilizing FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

[0374] As discussed above, according to the information managementsystem in the fourth embodiment, the query of the requester P ismulticast from the administration host directly to the subscriberterminals 11 a, etc. Therefore, the host 11 a, etc., has no necessity ofmanaging the redundant query involving the use of the query ID.

[0375] Moreover, according to the present information management system,the subscriber hosts 11 a, etc., are categorized into the groups andthus managed, and this scheme therefore has a good affinity to themulticast address. The administration host is capable of managing thesubscriber groups on the basis of the multicast addresses.

[0376] <Modified Example>

[0377] In the fourth embodiment, the administration host categorizes thesubscribers into the groups and assigns the multicast addresses to thesegroups. The group is set irrespective of subscriber's characteristics.This group may be set associative with, e.g., the clusters into whichthe subscribers are categorized with respect to the respectivecommercial articles. The concept of the cluster is the same as in thefirst embodiment, and therefore its explanation is omitted.

[0378] The query distribution process in the case of categorizing thesubscribers into the clusters and assigning the multicast addresses tothe clusters, will be described referring to FIG. 30.

[0379] To start with, the administration host generates the querycommand (S431 b). Next, the administration host prompts the requester Pto input a cluster number of the requester P with respect to the querytarget commercial article (S432 b).

[0380] Subsequently, the administration host searches for the multicastaddress mapping to the cluster of the requester P (S433 b). Ensuingly,the administration host multicasts the query to this multicast address(S4342).

[0381] Next, the administration host sets the wait-for-answer status(S435 b). Thereafter, the administration host terminates the process.

[0382] As discussed above, according to this information managementsystem, the consumers are grouped into the clusters set for everycommercial article, and the multicast addresses are assigned to thegroups. This scheme, with respect to the query target commercialarticle, enables the query to be distributed simply surely to thesubscribers coming under the same cluster as that of the requester P,whereby the answers each exhibiting a high reliability can be obtained.

[0383] <<Readable-by-Computer Recording Medium>>

[0384] The information processing program in each of the embodimentsdiscussed above can be recorded on a readable-by-computer recordingmedium. Then, the computer reads and executes the information processingprogram on this recording medium, whereby the computer can be made tofunction as the host explained in the embodiments discussed above.

[0385] Herein, the readable-by-computer recording medium includesrecording mediums capable of storing information such as data, programs,etc., electrically, magnetically, optically and mechanically or bychemical action, which can be all read by the computer. What isdemountable out of the computer among those recording mediums may be,e.g., a floppy disk, a magneto-optic disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R/W, a DVD, aDAT, an 8 mm tape, a memory card, etc.

[0386] Further, a hard disk, a ROM (Read Only Memory) and so on areclassified as fixed type recording mediums within the computer.

[0387] <<Data Communication Signal Embodied in Carrier Wave>>

[0388] Furthermore, the information processing program described abovecan be stored on the hard disk and the memory of the computer, anddownloaded to other computers via communication media. In this case, theprogram is transmitted as data communication signals embodied in carrierwaves via the communication media. Then, the computer downloaded withthis program can be made to function as the program developing device 1in the embodiments discussed above.

[0389] Herein, the communication media may be any one of a coaxialcable, a twisted pair cable, an optical communication cable, satellitecommunications, ground wave wireless communications, etc.

[0390] Further, the carrier waves may be DC signals, and the datacommunication signal embodied in the carrier wave may be any one of amodulated broadband signal and an unmodulated base band signal.

[0391] Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions setforth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which theseinventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in theforegoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is tobe understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specificembodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program for making a computer execute steps of: receiving a query having a designated theme from another first computer connected to a network; searching for information coincident with the query; and sending the information coincident with the query back to a predetermined response destination, whereby said computer manages the information in distribution.
 2. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 1, wherein the query contains transfer control information for controlling transferability of the query, and said computer is made to further execute steps of: updating the transfer control information under a predetermined condition; judging based on the transfer control information whether the transfer of query can be permitted or not; and transferring, when the transfer is permitted, the query to one or more second computers.
 3. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 1, wherein said computer is made to further execute a step of inputting information on a desired theme or defining an accumulation area for inputting the information on the desired theme.
 4. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program for making a computer execute steps of: receiving a query having a designated theme from another first computer connected to a network; searching for information coincident with the query; and sending a location of the information coincident with the query back to a predetermined response destination, whereby said computer manages the information in distribution.
 5. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 2, wherein said computer is made to further execute steps of: receiving the response to the query from said second computer; and sending the received response back to said first computer.
 6. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 1, wherein the response destination is said first computer.
 7. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 1, wherein the query contains information for specifying the response destination, and the response destination is a query originator computer originating the query first.
 8. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 2, wherein the response destination is an administration computer requested to distribute the query to said other computer by the query originator computer originating the query first, and starting such a distribution.
 9. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 1, wherein the theme is a user's evaluation about a commercial article.
 10. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 9, wherein the query contains characteristic information of a query originator user related to a purchase of the commercial article, said computer is made to further execute steps of referring to the characteristics of a respondent user, and judging whether the respondent user is coincident with the characteristic information or not, and said sending the information involves refraining from sending an evaluation of the user who is not coincident with the characteristic information.
 11. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 1, wherein said computer is made to further execute steps of, generating the query; and receiving a response to the query.
 12. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 11, wherein said computer is made to further execute a step of requesting said administration computer to start distributing the thus generated query.
 13. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 12, wherein said receiving step involves receiving the response from said administration computer.
 14. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 11, wherein said receiving step involves receiving the response from a computer having information coincident with the query.
 15. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 11, wherein said computer is made to further execute a step of totaling the responses.
 16. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 11, wherein the information is a result of the user's evaluation about the commercial article, and said computer is made to further execute steps of: referring to the characteristic information of the query originator user related to the purchase of the commercial article; judging whether or not the respondent user is coincident with the characteristic information; and totaling the responses of the respondent users coincident with the characteristic information.
 17. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 1, wherein the query is an offer of selling a specified commercial article, and the information is a price in the case of purchasing the commercial article concerned.
 18. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 17, wherein said computer is made to further execute steps of: generating the query; receiving a response to the query; and selecting only a predetermined number of responses in sequence from the highest price down to the lowest.
 19. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 1, wherein the query is an offer of purchasing a specified commercial article, and the information is a price in the case of selling the commercial article concerned.
 20. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 19, wherein said computer is made to further execute steps of: generating the query; receiving a response to the query; and selecting only a predetermined number of responses in sequence from the lowest price to the highest.
 21. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program for making a computer distribute a query to another computer on a network and execute steps of: receiving a query distribution request for distributing the query to another distribution destination computer from a query originator computer generating the query; determining said distribution destination computer; and distributing the query to said determined distribution destination computer.
 22. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 21, wherein if said distribution destination computer transfers the query to still other transfer destination computer, said distribution step involves distributing transfer control information for controlling transferability of the query together with the query and eliminating a limitless transfer of the query.
 23. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 21, wherein said distribution step involves distributing the query to a plurality of distribution destinations on the basis of a multicast address.
 24. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 21, wherein said computer is made to further execute steps of: receiving a response to the query; and sending the response back to said query originator computer.
 25. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 21, wherein said computer is made to further execute steps of: receiving the responses to the query; totaling the responses and generating total information; and sending the total information back to the query originator computer.
 26. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 21, wherein said computer is made to further execute steps of: receiving a response to the query; generating an anonymous response by deleting the information for specifying an individual from the response; and sending the anonymous response back the query originator computer.
 27. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 25, wherein the information is a result of the user's evaluation about the commercial article, wherein said computer is made to further execute steps of: referring to characteristic information of the user of said query originator computer with respect to the purchase of the commercial article; judging whether or not the respondent user is coincident with the user characteristic information; and wherein said totaling step includes totaling responses of the respondent users coincident with the characteristic information.
 28. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 22, wherein said distribution step involves designating said query originator computer as a response destination for said distribution destination computer, and having the response directly given to said query originator computer from said distribution destination computer or said transfer destination computer.
 29. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 25, wherein the query is an offer of selling a specified commercial article, the information is a price in the case of purchasing the commercial article, and said totaling step includes selecting only a predetermined number of responses in sequence from the highest price down to the lowest.
 30. A readable-by-computer recording medium recorded with a program according to claim 25, wherein the query is an offer of purchasing a specified commercial article, the information is a price in the case of selling the commercial article, and said totaling step includes selecting only a predetermined number of responses in sequence from the lowest price to the highest.
 31. A data communication signal containing a program code module for making a computer execute steps of: receiving a query having a designated theme from another first computer connected to a network; searching for information coincident with the query; sending the information coincident with the query back to a predetermined response destination; updating transfer control information for controlling transferability of the query; judging based on the transfer control information whether the transfer of query can be permitted or not; and transferring, when the transfer is permitted, the query to one or more second computers.
 32. An information processing device cooperating with another information processing device connected to a network, comprising: an operation unit for creating information related to a desired theme; a recording unit for recording said information; a communication unit for communicating with said other information processing device connected to the network; and a control unit, wherein said control unit, when receiving the query with the theme designated from said other first information processing device, searches for information coincident with the query on said recording unit, and sends the information coincident with the query back to a predetermined response destination.
 33. An information processing device according to claim 32, wherein the query contains transfer control information for controlling transferability of the query, and said control unit updates the transfer control information, judges based on the transfer control information whether the transfer of query can be permitted or not, and transfers, when the transfer is permitted, the query to one or more second information processing devices.
 34. An information processing device according to claim 33, wherein said control unit sends, as a substitute for the information coincident with the query, a location of the information coincident with the query.
 35. An information processing device according to claim 33, wherein the information is a result of a user's evaluation about a commercial article.
 36. An information processing device according to claim 35, wherein the query contains characteristic information of a query originator user related to a purchase of the commercial article, and said control unit judges whether a respondent user is coincident with the characteristic information or not.
 37. An information processing device according to claim 32, wherein the query is an offer of selling a specified commercial article, and the information is a price in the case of purchasing the commercial article.
 38. An information processing device according to claim 32, wherein the query is an offer of purchasing a specified commercial article, and the information is a price in the case of selling the commercial article.
 39. An information processing device according to claim 32, wherein said control unit generates the query and receives a response to the query.
 40. An information processing device according to claim 33, wherein said control unit generates the query, sets transfer control information for controlling transferability in the query and eliminates a limitless transfer of the query.
 41. An information processing device cooperating with another information processing device connected to a network, comprising: a communication unit for communicating with said other information processing device connected to the network; and a control unit, wherein said control unit receives a request for distribution from a query originator information processing device generating a query related to a desired theme to other distribution destination information processing device, determines said distribution destination information processing device, distributes the query to said distribution destination processing device, and makes a predetermined respondent send back the information coincident with the query.
 42. An information processing device according to claim 41, wherein the information is a result of the user's evaluation about the commercial article, and said control unit refers to characteristic information of the user of said query originator information processing device with respect to the purchase of the commercial article, judges whether or not the respondent user is coincident with the above characteristic information, and totals responses of the respondent users coincident with the above characteristic information.
 43. An information processing device according to claim 41, wherein the query is an offer of selling a specified commercial article, the information is a price in the case of purchasing the commercial article, and said control unit selects only a predetermined number of responses in sequence from the highest price down to the lowest.
 44. An information processing device according to claim 41, wherein the query is an offer of purchasing a specified commercial article, the information is a price in the case of selling the commercial article, and said control unit selects only a predetermined number of responses in sequence from the lowest price to the highest.
 45. An information management processing system, configured by a plurality of information processing devices on a network, for managing information in distribution, said information processing device comprising: a communication unit for communicating with other information processing device connected to a network; and a control unit, wherein said control unit receives a query with a theme designated from other first computer connected to the network, searches for information coincident with the query, and sends the information coincident with the query back to a predetermined response destination.
 46. An information management processing system according to claim 45, wherein said information processing device comprises: a communication unit for communicating with other information processing device connected to a network; and a control unit, wherein said control unit further includes an administration device for receiving a request for distributing a query from a query originator computer generating the query to other distribution destination computer, determining said distribution destination computer and distributing the query to said distribution destination computer.
 47. An information collecting method of distributing information to a computer on a network, for storing information in distribution, and making said computer respond to the query, said method comprising: receiving a request for distribution from a query originator computer generating the query related to a desired theme; determining a query distribution destination computer; and distributing the query to said distribution destination computer. 